Ava Jo is 11 Months Old!

The Sloat Family

Last Friday, I had the honor of photographing the Sloat family at Hampton Park in Charleston.  This is one of my favorite places to shoot, and the Sloat's quickly became one of my favorite families I have photographed!  I first met this family a couple of years ago through the annual Pattison's Academy Spinning Marathon at Eco Fitness, where I teach Spin. If you don't know about Pattison's Academy, you should.  The mission statement for Pattison's Academy, which recently became a public charter school, is as follows:

Pattison's Academy for Comprehensive Education will improve the quality of life for children with multiple disabilities by providing a comprehensive education program that integrates educational cirricula with functional rehabilitation instruction to maximize the potential and well being of the child and to ensure family inclusion.

I have seen so many children, and families, positively effected by this program.  It is amazing.  The people who carried this school from a dream to a reality are too many to name, but are all heroes in my eyes.  Great job, and congrats to you all! 

Baby Gavin Slide Show

I just finished editing all of Baby Gavin's photos, and found some real gems hidden away!  Take a look at the slide show to see some more...

Dena & Jeffrey Are Running Across ETHIOPIA!

My Crossfit buddies, Dena and Jeffrey are running across ETHIOPIA!  For those of you who are unaware, this is a COUNTRY.  And, they are planning to run across it in just 10 days this January! They are raising money to help to build schools in fair trade communities in Ethiopia... the cradle of coffee production.  If you would like to donate, please click here. Whoa!!! So, I had to get them in the studio and do some photos...

 

If you are curious how these photos were shot, I will be teaching an Intro to Basic Studio Lighting Workshop at the Charleston Center for Photography on December 13th, so come on in!

Sam and Nick Are Getting Married!!

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of photographing Samantha and Nick out at Folly Beach, where Nick actually proposed to Sam a few months prior!  We had fantastic weather and Sam and Nick were such a fun, cute couple to shoot!  I've been working with Adobe's Lightroom 3 lately, and had some fun playing around with some effects in post production with this shoot.  Here are some of the selects:

And a little slide show if you would like to see a few more...

Wedding Photography Workshop @ CCforP

Photo by Alice Keene

Yesterday I wrapped up a two day Wedding Photography Workshop at the Charleston Center for Photography, where I teach a number of classes and workshops.  It was a great two days, with an energetic group of people and a lot of information passed!  We wrapped up the second day with a mock bridal shoot in Historic Charleston, with our lovely model Candice.  Candice got married a few weeks ago, and was kind enough to slip back into that beautiful dress of hers!  She was gorgeous!  Thanks again Candice!

Photo by Alice Keeney

 

Photo by David Sigmon

Photo by Jennings King

Photo by Jennings King

The workshop participants did a very nice job trying new techniques and came out with several very successful photos.

It was such an incredible November day, with a great model, and a surreal background, that I had to grab a few frames myself-great job everyone!















If you are interested in learning more about photography, come in and take one of my classes!!

Photo by Corey Washington

Workshop Participant, Corey Photographs Candice.

Photo by David Clark

Baby Gavin

Although my to-do list is a mile long, Baby Gavin stole my heart and jumped right to the top of my "to edit list".  If you are also on that list, I'm sorry, he won!  Gavin came into this world about a month early and he is just a little ball of energy!  Although it doesn't look like it from the few pictures posted here, he just did not want to close his little eyes.  Finally, he slept, and is one of the cutest little things I have seen in a long, long time! Congrats Ashley and Deron!  More to come soon...

Love Red Tonight!

Tonight I will be part of a group show title Love Red, hosted by One located at 478 King Street.  The opening will be from 5-8 pm and includes some really talented artists and photographers from the Charleston area.  Rachel Gordon, of One, and her team, assigned each artist one word to keep in mind when creating their piece.  Each artist and photographer has created a piece that has been inspired by the color red, which is the global color for solidarity with HIV positive and people living with AIDS.

I was assigned the word "stigma," which to be honest had me completely stumped at first! How on earth does one portray stigma, an intangible word?  I bounced it around, and decided to stick to a portrait, as I felt the human element was very necessary.  But, STILL, how was I going to portray this?  Well, as we all know you cannot tell, just by looking at someone, if they are HIV positive.  However, many people have preconceived notions, or stigmas, regarding what people with HIV look like.  I decided to place reality side by side with the preconception.  Here is what I came up with:

 I must send out a very large thank you to my model Missy Living, who was more than willing to pose for this project!  Also, thanks to Stacy Pearsall for bouncing around concepts that made this work, and for some post production tips.  It should be noted that this is a composite, and that it has been altered in Photoshop.

Artists and photographers participating include myself, Eric Bradshaw, Kimberly Krauk, King Street Photography, Cyle Suesz, David Despeaux, Diana Deaver, Clayton Brannon, Gregg Lambton-Carr, Mickey Williams, Natasha Madan, Karen Silvestro, Kevin Harrison, Sarah Yoder, Jeffery Lange,Banks Pappas, Jessica Crouch, Julio Cotto and Patrick Nevins. Profits from this event will be donated to Lowcountry AIDS Services, so come out and support a good cause! 

See what the Charleston Scene, and the Charleston City Paper have to say!

Today...has been a good day.

Today has been a good day. 

Got the cover of Charleston Mag and an AP Top Pix for one of the photos I shot at Tim Scott's election party tonight as he became the first Republican African American from South Carolina to be elected to Congress since Reconstruction. 

Wow. I have seen some pretty cool moments in history!

Charleston Magazine Cover!!

Well, what a nice surprise to happen upon!  As many of you know, I shoot a bunch of incredibly fantastic events and performances for the Jazz Artists of Charleston and the Charleston Jazz Orchestra.  I must give JAC and CJO a HUGE shout out for using local artists, paying local artists, and using the visual arts to properly promote and document their art, jazz.  Last year, I was doing a studio shoot of the RIDICULOUSLY talented Charlton Singleton, CJO's Artistic Director, (trumpet player, vocalist, pianist...need I go on??), over at the Charleston Center for Photography. We had basically wrapped up the shoot, and decided to pop off just a few more shots- a couple of fun ones.  What resulted Leah Suarez has recently, and affectionately, coined "The Everlasting Jump".  I'm pretty sure that Charlton wishes that it would just die!!  The photo I am referring to is of Charlton jumping up, way up, in the air with his horn, and it was chosen for the November issue of Charleston Magazine!!  Charlton is a rare musical talent, which Jack McCray so eloquently describes in his latest article, "Jazz Man".  You will only be able to see a few photos, but it looks like they used a lot!  Charleston Jazz Orchestra, and Jazz Artists of Charleston, are two non-profits that have been formed by an incredible group of amazingly talented musicians that have bonded together to make sure that Jazz is represented properly in the Lowcountry.  I must also give a hand to Leah Suarez, JAC's leading lady, whom without, they would not be what they are, Erin Fornadel, Leah's right hand lady who works tirelessly to make things go off without a hitch, and of course, the ever gracious and patient, Charlton Singleton! They look great on paper, but you are really missing out if you have not been out to see them perform live! CJO will have another event coming up on the day before Thanksgiving!

Ashley and Deron {Part 1}

Just over a month ago, I had the pleasure of photographing Ashley and Deron and their little one yet to come, Gavin out at Folly Beach.  It was such an incredible time for them, and amazing to see the wonder and excitement on their faces!  On Wednesday, I will be doing newborn photographs of baby Gavin, so keep an eye out!  Congrats Ashley and Deron!

Eddie Adams Workshop Multimedia Piece Hits 1,000 Views!

This year, I was lucky enough to be selected to participate in the 2010 Eddie Adams Workshop, AKA Barnstorm XXIII on the Orange Team.  I promise to do another post about the whole experience, but for now, please check out the multimedia piece I created with the help of Rachel Wise!  Believe it or not, as of today over 1,000 people have viewed the piece-take a look for yourself and let me know what you think!

Angela and Stephen- October 15, 2010

Sarah and Travis Slideshow

Sarah and Travis

9.25.2010 Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Although I adore photographing weddings in beautiful historic Charleston, South Carolina, it is quite refreshing to travel elsewhere and explore new venues.  A few weeks ago, I traveled to the very, very tip of Cape Cod to the picturesque Chequessett Yacht Club to photograph Sarah and Travis's wedding.  This is one of the most adorable, down to earth, power couples I have ever seen!  At a time of year when a nor'easter could easily roll in, they had incredible, crisp fall weather and a full moon for the backdrop to their good ole New England clambake and lob-sta feast! Little necks, stuffies on the shores of Cape Cod? I was in New England heaven!  Now for those of you who know me, I am a New England girl, born and bred, and I will NEV-UH, EV-UH turn down a lob-sta.  It was one of the best things I have ever tasted!  Here are a few of my favorites!